Weekend in Preston

¡Hola! my reader :)

Lately I have been crazy busy with my University work, so did not have time for the post here, but, yes I have another trip to add to my travel list - this time visited my second home, as I call Preston right know.

So, last weekend with my amazing flatmates, went to Preston for a weekend break seeing friends and for shopping, haha :)

Here are some pictures+video, from our trip and next post will probably be from my sweet sweet home :) Only few days left till I am going for my Christmas holiday in Latvia! Really miss home this time, miss snow, miss family, friends and Riga!

 

Uclan safety bus :)

My art

For those who does not know, I studied art and I am still interested in it, but yeah, I decided to share some pieces of it with you.. /I am definitely not a master, just to let you know, especially for those who are familiar with art world.

 

Interior Design

And here are some pic of work process..

 I studied art in general, interior design and was interested in fashion.. actually I firstly applied for university in Fashion Design..

here are my drawing, paintings, ArchiCAD projects (interior design photos), henna art etc.

University

So today I will tell about my university life and experience.
As for those readers who don`t know - previous year I started my degree in UCLan, in UK (BA International Tourism Management) and this year I am doing my Erasmus exchange degree in University of Malta.

The biggest difference I have noticed is - time/planning etc. If in UCLan everything was organised till the smallest detail, then here I feel nobody knows nothing sometimes. People are not in rush, you know as in south.. everybody is relaxed and take everything easy! For me, as I have always planned my life it is bit hard to adopt this lifestyle.

Studies are a bit harder and more work to do - if in UCLan I had 6modules per year and 12hours per week, then here I have 9 modules and 18hours per week + each module is only per semester, so I will have about 18modules per year. If in UCLan per week I had 1hour lecture and then 1hour seminar related to lecture`s topic, here in UoM I have 2hour lecture and no seminars, so amount of information is much more. Sometimes I have 2hour lecture without break and the I feel my head could explode, haha :D Also, few days per week are crazy busy - from 10am-8pm and sometimes lectures starts at 8am!!!

In UCLan I had only 1 exam and about 15assignments per year, then here I will have about 5-6 exams per semester + about 8-9 assignments per semester (some of them 6000 - 10`000words) what can I say CRAZY!!

What I enjoy here the most is modules - they are interesting. University campus is small, so I don`t have to walk sometimes 20mins from one building to the other. Library - can I say, no comments? I love UCLan`s library.. so overall there are + and - in each uni, but still I miss UCLan :)

UCLan

 UoM

               our lecture! lecturer is seriously teching us :) well facebook is important!

 this in university :) cute duck and this little cutie cat, which all the time try to steal your dinner :D ahaahh

Malta

So on first Saturday in September I left my second home - Preston with the one way ticket to Malta.
First weeks I spent settling in, enjoying unbelievably hot weather, swimming, relaxing etc.

Actually on my first night at Malta I experienced the biggest thunderstorm Malta had in past 10 years. Realized its really bad, when saw rain-water coming through hotel`s window and had to change room. Yeah, I can say that in Malta thunderstorms are totally different from Latvia`s/UK`s. Totally don`t enjoy them - better to be under big, fluffy blanket, drinking something stronger and trying to fall asleep : haha

So my verdict so far about Malta - weather is amazing (in autumn :D summer is bit too hot and humid for me, but from mid of September till this moment and hopefully all winter is perfect - I even went to swim few days ago, and its November.. about +22 in a day time.
Architecture/nature - I do like it, could be more palm trees and huger mountains and I would love it. Gozo island is really wild and beautiful.

Living - rent is cheaper than UK and you can get something really good, modern, close to sea for good value-if you look for it, but its not easy . Other living costs like food, utilities, shopping are bit higher. Transport is extremely cheap, night life varies from cheap to medium and eating out in most of the places are in average prices. I would say - with UK wages everything is affordable, but salary in Malta is quiet low, so for Malta I believe everything is expensive.
So average living costs would be: (and this is my opinion)

• Rent (3bedroom flat) - in the most expensive areas, which are Sliema/St.Julians for decent flat varies from 500Eur - 700Eur, modern one is hard to find below 650Eur-700Eur (most of them are with 2 double bedrooms and 1 single). About 1-2 bedroom flats I don`t know so much, but as I know 1 modern bedroom flat would be possible to find in these areas around 400Eur +. For 800Eur+ you would be able to find something ultra modern and with possible sea view
• Utilities depends how economic you live. 
• Food also varies, but if I spent in UK for my weekly food shopping without much looking what I was buying around 25pounds (30Eur), then here 30Eur can easily go with careful looking for only necessaries.
• Clothes etc. - besides assortment is limited, prices are about +20-30% of UK prices.
• Transport - one thing that is cheap! Day ticket to all buses 2.60Eur/student monthly ticket 21Eur!!!
• Nightlife - drinks starts from about 1.50Eur, entrance everywhere for free, from age 17

So here are pics from my first weeks :

Next time I will tell little bit about my university life :)

Summer 2012

One day I realized - people start so many things and then just leave them - this is what happened also to my blog. Started it with passion and the due to lack of time started to be lazy and did not upload nothing here. But sometimes I miss writing and I will try again :D haha.
This time, I will start with apologizing to all my Latvian readers, that I will most probably post only in English as it takes twice more time to post in two languages.
Again - I am not native English speaker, so sorry about my language. 

So what have happened during the summer and since that time I last posted here:

As some of my readers may remember, I left sweet sweet home and went alone to explore Greece (Rhodes Island). It was not so successful as I wished.

My plan was to work there for 3 months - 'Summer Job Experience for Students'.
I ended up living in the kitchen with unbelievable heat, humidity and mosquitoes biting me all night long :D
This of course was not the only problem, but I do not want to go into the details and I am also not gonna mention neither the company I went to this venture, nor place where I was suppose to work etc.

So, after dealing with many problems I realized it is not worth staying there and working all summer like a slave so I packed my things and left!
Of course, my problems did not end before I actually went into the airplane, but this is a bit personal story and all I can say about Rhodes - it is amazing island, beautiful and I would definitely recommend it for the holiday destination, but I will never sign for nothing like that, got my experience and luckily got out of the country.

soo, packed my 2 suitcases and left Rhodes! Had 3 seats at the airplane, yeee :)

So thanks to few helpful people and especially two, I ended up back in Preston, spending few days in student halls, then few days somewhere else till found proper room to stay (for 3 weeks :D).. so this is how my amazing summer started! Met so many amazing people and moved so so many times, but I had great company with me :)

Little overview of my summer

my 546459 moving time this year :D loved this apartment!

You know my girl, I miss you!

Met this awesome guy this summer :)

and this amazing lady :) miss you

and my guest in Preston! You know, I am missing you lots, thanks for supporting me. Always :)

 And then September came, it was time to leave Preston second time this year to move to Malta, where I will spend almost a year doing my Erasmus exchange programme about which one I will tell you next time, my reader :)